Question. Shouldn't Pinocchio not be up there? The reason alot of people dislike it is because of the dub it got. If it anything were to replace it, it would be Master of Disguise. Also, that was obviously NOT Roberto's voice in the dub, that was Breckin Meyer. Why isn't he nominated as Worst Actor?

RESPONSE from Head RAZZberry: Even without the hideously inept dubbing of the American release version, PINOCCHIO was a worthy RAZZIE® contender in all categories -- It was visually ugly, utterly devoid of any charm or magic, and cast the 50-year-old Benigni (who had visible "five o'clock shadow" in several scenes) in the title role -- as a five-year-old boy in silk kneepants(!).

Though the dubbing may have been the frosting on the turd, PINOCCHIO is also one of the few films ever to maintain a perfect ZERO approval rating at RT, even 8 years after its U.S. release (LINK)...

True, "Master of Disguise" really was Razzie worthy, but got away scott-free. I guess the painful dubbing of "Pinocchio" just sent Razzie voters over the edge.

RESPONSE from Head RAZZberry: Our members tend to nominate only a single film in any given genre for Worst Picture each year, and both PINOCCHIO and MASTER OF DISGUISE were arguably children's films. While MASTER was pretty indefinisble, unlike PINOCCHIO it was not the most expensive film in its native country's history, did not star a recent Oscar winner embarrassingly indulging himself, and was not the worst dubbed movie since GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER. Having seen both films myself, I will defend our Voting Members' choice of Benigni's film over Carvey's fiasco any day...

The Four Horsemen of the Moviepocalypse: uncalled for sequels/remakes/reboots, 3-D surcharges, untalented "celebrities", and anything with Michael Bay's name attached to it.

...really?? I never thought subtitles were tedious. Perhaps it's because I have better eyesight than hearing. Even then, with such poorly dubbed voices so common, I'm surprised so many people think subbing's worse.

Reading has always been second nature to me. I guess... Who knows what people have this problem, but for many, it takes a lot of work to read a few words. Do you know what determines that for any given American?

On your problem with Roberto playing the title role, would you rather have a kid that's the caliber of Jake Lloyd?

Also, I noticed that back in Italy that the was actually nominated for 6 David di Donatello Awards and won two. It was also nominated for 3 Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon and won one. (It's true, here's the link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0255477/awards ) If it's really that bad, then why would the Italians do this? (And think of something other than something like "Italians have brain damage.")

PS: Wow, I've started a discussion here.

RESPONSE from Head RAZZberry: I am curious -- You seem to be defending Benigni's PINOCCHIO without actually having seen it. Have you seen the film? If not, may I suggest you get a DVD of it from NetFlix or BlockBuster, subject yourself to the entire film (perhaps having a friend lock you in a room with the DVD would help you get thru the experience) and then see if you wanna continue this thread...

I wouldn't toss out the "brain damage" thing too quickly. This is a country that sided with Hitler, and has had more than 60 governments since WWII. Picking Mussini as your country's leader wasn't exactly an inspired idea, but I back off from that after we had 8 years of a retarded chimp beginning in 2001.

Some other possibilities:

1. Italian cinema sucks in general

2. Italian cinema had a REALLY bad year in 2002

3. some combination of 1 and 2.

4. after some of the earlier success enjoyed by Roberto Benigni, some of the lords of Italian cinema decided his poo no longer smelled.

5. okay, they are brain damaged.

Nine times out of ten, in art as in life, there is no truth to be discovered, only an error to be exposed.--H.L. Menken

I might be brain-damaged then, because my father's Italian. Everything I've seen and done, however, suggests my weakness lies in my muscles. I can sit here all night coming up with outlandish explanations for why Pinocchio won those awards, but personally, I doubt we'll find out anytime soon. For insight, I ask: what categories did it win?

Update: out of those 5 suggestions, the "Benigni is always right" argument sounds the best. That's what Life Is Beautiful (1998) suggests, because after the acclaim for Life is Beautiful, they probably thought him infallible.

"Italian cinema sucks in general" ... and yet, they hold the record for the most Best Foreign Language Oscars -- go figure!

RESPONSE from Head RAZZberry:As a longtime fan of Federico Fellini, and someone who considers him one of the most gifted directors of the 20th century, I cannot concur with the idea that "Italian cinema sucks in general"...

The Four Horsemen of the Moviepocalypse: uncalled for sequels/remakes/reboots, 3-D surcharges, untalented "celebrities", and anything with Michael Bay's name attached to it.

Believe it or not, the dubbed version is on YouTube, and even the guy who uploaded believes that it's the dub that brought it down. I also read other peoples comments on the video saying that the English dub isn't even translating the words from the original language. I attempted to watch it, then at one point, a vvideo some how skipped a few minutes and I didn't want to miss a part. I'll probably watch the Italian version with English subtitles.

By the way, you still haven't answered my question on would you rather have a child actor that's the caliber of Jake Lloyd playing the lead?

RESPONSE from Head RAZZberry: Since Benigni had complete control over this version of the story, and clearly had no intention of ever casting anyone but himself in the title role, your question is arguably irrelevant. But at least a child actor -- even one as talent-free as Lloyd -- would not force the audience to ignore his obvious physical inappropriateness for the role throughout the film, as Roberto's casting of himself did. So I guess my answer would be a hesitant "yes."

Okay...the "Italian cinema sucks in general" remark was made tongue-in-cheek...as was most of the post. I have tremendous respect for Italy, it's marvelous contributions to art, science and many other fields of endeavor. BUT...Benigni's version of Pinocchio blew.

Nine times out of ten, in art as in life, there is no truth to be discovered, only an error to be exposed.--H.L. Menken

Okay, that's more reasonable. For I moment, I thought saturnwatcher had become the "Italian cinema" (and Italy in genernal) counterpart to my rants against Hollywood.

Originally posted by saturnwatcher

Okay...the "Italian cinema sucks in general" remark was made tongue-in-cheek...as was most of the post. I have tremendous respect for Italy, it's marvelous contributions to art, science and many other fields of endeavor. BUT...Benigni's version of Pinocchio blew.

The Four Horsemen of the Moviepocalypse: uncalled for sequels/remakes/reboots, 3-D surcharges, untalented "celebrities", and anything with Michael Bay's name attached to it.

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